So, here is the thing. Lost Alpha does MUCH BETTER at telling the story (and it changes it severely) BUT... there are a few things that do not add up.

a) There are a total of (that I found) 2 encounters with an "allegedly" SIN guy, with no name (or .... as a name). First, it appears outside the entrance of the bar bunker. I didn't kill him, so he killed the guards and got into it. Second, in X-14 (If I'm not mistaking the name, the lab with the "Doomsday device") after you stop the device. BTW... there are certain moments in the maze that were AWESOME. Specially once you turn that radio off that is in one of the rooms... WOW! I didn't kill him either. Also, you will see him in a vision when you get to Doc into the swamps AND once you find the Monolith.

So, who exactly... or what, is he? I know he can be killed because I tried once (although I reloaded. So, I didn't kill him in any of the encounters), but there is no information about anything at all. And since he teleports on and off... and goes away if you don't do anything to him, he definitely isn't human. Or not anymore.

b) Once you get to the swamps (that chopper was a pita...), and have the vision, what does really go on on such vision? You see several "chess figures" arguing (can't remember exactly what they were saying, to be honest. Anybody care to remind me?), and finally one makes the others shut up, and the SIN .... with the cloak appears (or does it? Not 100% sure).

what is going on? I thought I'd find them... but I didn't.

c) Once you get into the Radar, and get into the final lab.... WTF?! You find "something" (a pyrogeist), that claims to be a "god"... but you kill him with pretty much everything you had and... thats it?! The game ends there?!

d) What is the connection with the cloaked mistery guy and the monolith? I know he appears once you find him....

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I get it: the Radar is what controls the Ionosphere (or whatever the name is for the one being manipulated) and, thus, controls the zone. Apparently, they were trying to do experiments on behaviour by manipulating certain layers around the earth. Meanwhile, they were working with giant brains (there are several throughout the game. Even in X-14 the Doomsday device is a giant brain)... and something went wrong and they created a self-conscious being.

BUT, where do the chess-figures come in? Do they come from other "zones" or experiments around the Globe? Why does the final boss, the "God", say close to nohing, and is so easy to kill?

I don't know. Something isn't as clear as it should be....

PS: kudos to whoever had the idea of the "Gordon Streaman". I almost cried of joy when playing that part. BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

prava wrote:b) Once you get to the swamps (that chopper was a pita...), and have the vision, what does really go on on such vision? You see several "chess figures" arguing (can't remember exactly what they were saying, to be honest. Anybody care to remind me?), and finally one makes the others shut up, and the SIN .... with the cloak appears (or does it? Not 100% sure).

Before Lost Alpha was released, a video was uploaded on youtube which was an early version of this scene. I heard rumors that this was a 'test' scene and that it wouldn't be in the final game. I was very disappointed when I saw that it was in the final game. It is a very poorly put together scene. Everything about it is awful.

Dragging the Illuminati into the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. Who the fuck wrote that? Was he high of LSD? The entire scene looks like it was made by one person who has just started out modding. The illuminati aspect is shit, the soundeffects when the sin guy teleports are shit, everything about it is awful.

Why not have the C-Conciousness scientists in their tubes. instead of these stupid black flashing blocks? So long as the scene stays as it is, Lost Alpha's story will be below average in my eyes. S.T.A.L.K.E.R's story was already perfect without you ruining it with people who 'Control the world for thousands of years'. It makes the Zone seem like just another dumb manmade thing that can be destroyed as easily it was created.

It's a damn shame, because the rest of the game looks professionally done, especially the beginning of the game. If you stuck with the C-Conciousness story, the Zone would still seem like a single entity, created by an accident and having no one who is close to being able to control it, except C-Conciousness, but even they can't fully control the Zone.

Dragging the Illuminati into the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. Who the fuck wrote that? Was he high of LSD? The entire scene looks like it was made by one person who has just started out modding. The illuminati aspect is shit, the soundeffects when the sin guy teleports are shit, everything about it is awful.

I thought that was an excellent twist to Stalker and would love it if they expanded on that storyline in the mod.

prava wrote:b) Once you get to the swamps (that chopper was a pita...), and have the vision, what does really go on on such vision? You see several "chess figures" arguing (can't remember exactly what they were saying, to be honest. Anybody care to remind me?), and finally one makes the others shut up, and the SIN .... with the cloak appears (or does it? Not 100% sure).

Before Lost Alpha was released, a video was uploaded on youtube which was an early version of this scene. I heard rumors that this was a 'test' scene and that it wouldn't be in the final game. I was very disappointed when I saw that it was in the final game. It is a very poorly put together scene. Everything about it is awful.

Dragging the Illuminati into the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. Who the fuck wrote that? Was he high of LSD? The entire scene looks like it was made by one person who has just started out modding. The illuminati aspect is shit, the soundeffects when the sin guy teleports are shit, everything about it is awful.

Why not have the C-Conciousness scientists in their tubes. instead of these stupid black flashing blocks? So long as the scene stays as it is, Lost Alpha's story will be below average in my eyes. S.T.A.L.K.E.R's story was already perfect without you ruining it with people who 'Control the world for thousands of years'. It makes the Zone seem like just another dumb manmade thing that can be destroyed as easily it was created.

It's a damn shame, because the rest of the game looks professionally done, especially the beginning of the game. If you stuck with the C-Conciousness story, the Zone would still seem like a single entity, created by an accident and having no one who is close to being able to control it, except C-Conciousness, but even they can't fully control the Zone.

OK, so my "WTF is this?!?!?!" when I was watching it was justified.

But... it makes me wonder:

-The Gordon Streaman cameo was just so damn good. That was... inside the dam? (what was the name or code of that lab?). The whole thing was just perfect: nothing was out of place, and you could see the beginning of Half-Life without not being Stalkerish. I have no idea who had the idea, but it was fantastic. The only thing that wasn't superb was the fact that you end up in the same part of the map where you finish your playable vision, which would be weird if anything because you crossed the whole map to end up just there. So, maybe the map orientation should be changed so that the control zone sits closer to the starting part of the map, and there is no weird transition.

-X-14 was also frigging fantastic. The atmosphere, the noises, the radio that if you turn it off stirs some noises... the visions in the rooms once you stop the doomsday, you being stalked by the projection.... AWESOME.

-X-8. Was good. The same lab you find in Call of Pripryat, wich a few surprises and a lot of bricks shat. Nice devolpment, lots of checking the batteries.

-All the original maps, reworked, are fantastic. All of them. The new bar-town should have another entrance (no idea why it wouln't. Yes, for realism purposes you would only have one... but nobody cares. Its a PITA to get inside because everything is blocked), and the outside of the Yantar-subways, where you kill those suckers and get the weapon that grants the Seva, should have another exit and not the not-obvious place you entered.

But then, you get the not so good, or simply bad.

-Like... Countryside (why does that map exists? I'm sure the Dam could be placed somewhere else), Forest (is there anything worth it in there, sans the lightning monoliths?) and Swamps. Those maps shouldn't be in the game in the first place, since they add nothing but tedious-ness to the game. Construction side is also a big map, a nice one, that is used for nothing. The outskirts has a bit more of this and that... but it also adds not that much, regarding the story-line. IMO, not always "more = better". A simple idea, a well explained one (X-14 is damn simple, yet its as good as it gets) will do its magic. In the end, you spend 60 or 70% of the time running from map to map.

-Also... why do Duty have so much leverage in the story, but Freedom have none? Unless you go looking for them, you won't even see their base, not at all. Why? IMO, the part in which they defended the barrier was perfect: not in the sense that monolith would come all that far (I liked the monolith much more in LA, as they are more "religious" and not some zombies with better aiming capabilities ), but in the sense that lots of mutants should try to come crawling and they are defending it. Instead... you have mercs everywhere. Its like mercs have much more power than Freedom, not only in man and firepower... but regarding the story. Heck, how many merc-bases you see throught the game? Warehouses, Dead City, Outskirts... am I missing any other?

-And then... you get the final, which makes no sense, and gives you a weird feeling.....